I have been diagnosis with schizoaffective disorder for over 14 years. I have been use all kind of psychotic and for mood disorders medications, but no medications work on me because of the horrible side effects. Now my psychiatrist gave me Clonazepam. But I research it says that in the long run when we become senior, it will cause Dementia (Alzheimer’s). It made me really worried about this, but my doctor cannot find any better medicine than this. So any body take this medicine. It says that is the same Lorazepam, but when we take thisClonazepam it will last all day,also we don’t have to take Lorazepam 2-3 pills per day.
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I take Klonopin 0.5 mg four or five days a week as needed. I don’t know about it causing dementia. i’m just grateful to have it for my paranoid meltdowns. it helps.
Cloneazepam loses it’s effectiveness the more you use it. You become tolerant to it’s effects.
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I became tolerant to clonazepam’s effects.
I took it everyday for years.
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Memory problems is a classic collateral effect - very common after using these drugs. Loss of balance, dependency and depression are also frequently observed. Not Alzheimer’s. Bad idea for the long term. Read the insert that the pharmacy gives you, and you will notice that even manufacturers warn you and clarify that no studies demonstrate efficacy beyond a period of time, and all.
A few years ago there was a study indicating that those over the age of 65 who begin taking benzodiazepines have a 50% greater chance of having dementia. It was not determined if this was causative or just a correlation. It may be that these individuals are taking benzodiazepines to offset the early symptoms of dementia. Ask your doctor. Good luck.
I saw the article on line that Dr. Cara Tannenbaun, the Geriatric expert has a warning of these kind of these medication such as Anticholinenergic and Benzodiazepine like Diazepam (Valium), Flurazepam (Dalmane), Xanax, Klonopin, Lorazepam and a few more. And the researchers say that Lorazepam are linked to a Higher Risk of Dying within a Few years. These kind of medications can also make Elderly can be fall easily which can lead to brain injury. I checked with my doctor but she said right now, sine she cannot find better medications that work on me just use this Klonopin for now.
I forget to mention that the pharmacist explain that Do Ot take the Klonopin more than 2-3 months because it is a Control Substance. I also told my doctor about that but I don’ know what the decision my doctor is trying to help me further or not. I feel very extremely depress for these over 14 years, My brain against and cannot handle any of these me and they all had have bad effects On me badly. I am looking for and trying to find new doctor that who will have sympathy and help me find the right medications that will work on me.
If you just take it once per week it won’t do much but everyday for years can definitely cause issues
My doctor told me to take everyday .25 in the morning and .25 at night time. In the beginning she said to take .5 my twice per day.
Because I am sensitive and have side effects of many medication, but in the morning ehen I awake I still depressed right away. My oldest sister and my grand mother are also have Alzeimer
I will see my doctor this week and I will discuss with her again. Thank you very much for the advice.
I take 0.5 up to 1.5mg Clonazepam daily for over 8 years. I wish I was introduced to Clona way earlier. Clona, on me at least, works like a primary antipsychotic. I really don’t care about the side-effects in the long-term. It makes me functional, it does not have caused addiction and/or tolerance. I rather be a little dumb than live with anxiety/paranoia/voices daily!
The reason why benzos are so effective for SZ is because they blunt dopamine.
They should honestly consider using them as APs.
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Seizure meds might be useful for SZ.
Klonopin (clonazepam) is the longest lasting benzo effects wise yes. This means it is also supposed to have the least withdrawals symptoms and is supposed to be the easiest to come off of but that wasn’t my experience. I didn’t like klonopin because it gave me a “benzo hangover” the morning after using it where I’d be extremely groggy. When I went off it after just 2 weeks of continuous use of the lowest dose I had withdrawal symptoms of anxiety that lasted several days.
Meanwhile Ativan (lorazepam) does have a shorter half life, but it’s still pretty decently long for a benzo. It has never given me a benzo hangover. And I have used it continuously for a year at the next dose up from lowest, stopped it cold turkey & had no withdrawal symptoms at all. So in all I just way prefer Ativan. I can’t explain my experience with it as on paper it doesn’t make sense. Maybe you will have better luck with klonopin!
Have you tried vraylar? Or fanapt? They are both very new APs with much lower side effect profiles than even Abilify. I’m on vraylar now and get barely any side effects at all & the ones I get are mild and manageable.
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Has Vraylar helped ur negatives? That’s the part that intrigues me the most since I’ve heard it can help with that, it’s just so expensive!
Nah the tiredness it caused me initially actually made them a bit worse. But modafinil basically treats all of that stuff for me which makes me unsure if I get true negatives or if it’s all a sleep disorder. (Thing is that geodon treated my negatives while also heavily sedating me, so I think I may have both negative symptoms and a sleep disorder that can exacerbate them)
But yeah geodon was the only AP I was ever on that actually significantly improved/got rid of my negatives.
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I believe Diazepam is the longest lasting benzo. Clonazepam comes in second. 50 hours and 30 hours, respectfully.
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Oh that would make sense!
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